4/15/2015

Il Circolo (North Perth, Perth WA) (Closed)

22 Angove St
North Perth Western Australia 6006
(08) 9328 7667
Hours:
Mo-Sun - 6.30am to 6pm


I love the layout and decoration of the place. Really woody and vintage, cozy and trendy, and the natural lighting that the place has most of the time. This looks like a real old style Italian cafe or coffee club. The ambience is familiar and quiet, without the hype you fine in the other cafes on Angove St, despite their food being way better and more original. You can seat and relax without having the pressure of a mob of  people trying to get in, even during weekends. Still, there is a reason, why this is not happening.

Il Circolo offers authentic Italian dishes, sweets and coffee. Their menu is not large, but original and different from what you find elsewhere in Perth.

Most of the egg breakfasts they offer and I have tried are OK, not bad, but not inspired either. Sometimes, they have special omelettes, which are very satisfying, but they are uninspired, overpriced, and on the small side. So I would go there for their toast breakfasts, which are definitely more Italian.
My Eggs Fiorentina with asparagus and sprinkled cheese felt abandoned in my plate without the company of any side, and they were not especially tasty; besides, the eggs were over-poached. The missing sides are unforgivable, taking into account the price of the dish. Jeez, use seasonal veggies, roast them and put them in the plate. If the cafés around are doing so without a problem, why is this an issue for Il Circolo? Their omelettes are way better, way bigger and use seasonal produce, and are very nice.

Their lunches are very good, with dishes that are very Italian and well cooked. The Parmesan Eggplant was delicious, moist, flavoursome, silky delicate and yummy. I could have eaten two of those on my own, so how can a man survive with one of those portions? The Involtini had a wonderful aroma, the dish was yummy and one of those that you expect an Italian nonna to prepare. 

The sausage and broccoli pasta I tried was not very pleasing to the eye, but it was al dente (Alellouya!), and extremely tasty.

I have been there for dinner, just once, and =======

Their sweets are, like most Mediterranean sweets, very rich and filling. They are too rich and thick for my taste, an example being the Baked Ricotta. However, their Blueberry and Custard Tartina was delicious, very soft, fresh, light, flavoursome and with the right amount of sugar.  

  
The coffee was very good, but perhaps not the linking of Perthites, who like their coffee very light and smooth and with little coffee in it. ll Circolo’s coffee uses Moka J-Enna beans, a brand that I've never heard of. It's strong flavoursome coffee, with a slightly bitter after-taste some days. Yet, it is very Italian.

Most of the staff are nice and friendly. However, despite their friendliness, the service is lacking sometimes as the guys behind the counter being more interested in conversing with their young cool colleagues than attending customers properly.

I like Il Circolo's decoration, quietness, lack of hype, and good food, but their food is a bit undersized and overpriced, and if you want to have a big yummy breakfast other places do a a better job.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
* They need to be more generous with their portion sizes, especially for breakfast. Most of the dishes I tried are made with cheap ingredients, so I don't see why the servings are so small. If the other cafés on Angove St are able to provide big multi-layered multi-product egg breakfasts at the same price, Il Circolo can do so too.  

* They should put in the bin the ton of expired magazines they have, which is most of what they have, and invest on at least two new magazines a month. It won't bankrupt the business and it makes a huge difference to solo and not-much-talking couples, which are a great part of their customers.

* They should improve their welcoming skills and being more serviceable, smiley and polite. If somebody approaches the counter and you are having a chat with your pal about personal stuff, interrupt it and attend to the customer first and then continue your chat. Is that so difficult?  If you don't do so, you are sending an implicit message that you do not give a damn about customers or that they are not your priority.

* The toilet needs to be revamped, refurbished, reorganised, and re-cleaned. The current toilet reminds me of those you find in road houses in the countryside. The fact that the space is small does not mean that you cannot maximise the space. Ikea + Bunnings have everything you need if you're on a budget. 
 
* Their cutlery is good quality, those that you find in fine-dining restaurant. Then, the napkin is of paper. Well, there is an awkwardness, but extremely heavy. No problem with that it wasn't because the napkins are vulgar paper. I mean, good cutlery goes with good napkins, and mediocre cutlery with paper napkins. Match them accordingly. 
 
***
Il Circolo is chilled classy restaurant that serves authentic Italian dishes, well prepared, on charming Angove St. You go there to avoid the hype and have a good eat, to have a chat with your pals or partners, because at Il Circolo you can actually communicate without having the music too loud, or hundred people yelling around.
Location: 8/10
Layout: 8/10
Ambience 8/10
Food: 8/10
Coffee: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Pricing: 6.5/10

1/02/2015

The Room 2 by Fireproof Games



The Room Two is an amazing 3-D puzzle game at an amazing price. The Room2, like The Room, is an awesome realistic 3-D game set in the 19th century, a world with esoteric Tesla-inspired absent characters, Tesla-like machinery, and utterly absorbing and mesmerising puzzles and atmosphere.

If you have played The Room, you will find the game quite easy to follow and to play at the beginning, especially the first two chapters. I thought they were a bit too easy... ha! That was a teaser, because things get very tricky again from chapter 3 and the wheels of your brain will be rolling in all directions. 
  
Visually speaking, the game has developed into a more complex and visually-enthralling game, with multi-layered rooms. plenty of devices and spots to investigate in each room, all interconnected among themselves.This being the case, the game is even more entertaining than the original. Chapter 3 offers a sort of time travel switch, which I loved, and chapter 5 is another brain electrifying knock for your mind!

The quality of the image, design, colours, textures and lighting is superb. The inventive is amazing, as well. The atmosphere is gorgeous.


I also liked the fact that the texts by AS, the absent character, and other texts and notes you find in the different rooms have clues embedded to solve the puzzles, so, in a way, they are more integrated with the game and not just a nice atmospheric addition. Still, I would like the story to be developed a bit more, as this would add another layer of enjoyment to a game that is already technically fantastic. 
  
The séance chapter and the one with the electric devices were awesome and I found myself totally there, in the room, excited as a child trying to solve the mystery and open the door to the next room.

My main disappointment with this game is the clue system. I love having clues to use when I am truly stuck, but the ones here are or too obvious to be a clue, or are not a clue but an instruction of what to do. That puts me off! For example, "you've got X see where it can fit" (helloooo, I have already reached that simple conclusion!!), "you should look for a shape like this" (helloooooo Mistahhhh), go there, do this and find this (wawwawaw, not a clue!). The good thing is that you can switch off the clue system in the settings, and problem solved. Still, I would like something a bit more elaborate, more "hintful", not so brutally there, if you know what I mean. 


I bought this game for less than 1 dollar, which is an unbelievable price if you take into consideration the quality of the game and the hours of entertainment you get.

The Room3 is going to be realised in August 2015. I cannot wait!

The Room by Fireproof Games

I was not into video-games of any sort, but this one changed my mind. And I thought it was time!

The Bafta award, the price of this app (a bit oldie now) and the raving reviews pushed me to push the purchase button. And what a purchase!

The room is an engineering 3-D maze and puzzle with a Tesla feeling to it, very 19th century, and it is very esoteric and intriguing. There are a series of boxes with many doors to open, locks you have to unlock, pieces you have to find and put elsewhere, parts that you have to fix. A bit of mental exercise and ability while you are having fun.

The  images have a great realism, and they are very detailed, crispy clean, with wonderful colours, textures and lighting. A pleasure for your senses. The retro atmosphere and the somewhat familiar music-box music create a wonderful ensemble. The fact that your fingers move around, look around, really makes you to believe that you are touching what you have in front of you, that you are in the room, handling the stuff in front of your eyes.


I would not say that The Room is a difficult game once you get used to the commands, how the game works and what is asking from you. However it is still ingenious and very challenging. If you want it easy, you can follow the clues by pushing the (?) button, but, personally, I avoid them as much as I can. Otherwise, the sense of achievement is less rewarding.  

I loved the Epilogue, especially the piano puzzle, was like playing piano with your own fingers. Also the 3-D spatial puzzles with the viewfinder lenses are cleverly done.


The Room works great in my Google Nexus 7 Tablet, with very neat images, easy movement and digital interaction. The app automatically rotates the screen, and everything works great. My only complaint is that, at least in my device, the touching around sometimes interferes with the three bottom buttons of the device, which self-hide while gaming, and they interrupt the game. Also the zooming in/out is sometimes a bit slow or perhaps not as straightforward and intuitive as I would have like it, but it might be my device. Still, this is one-dollar application game, so perhaps is too much to ask!

Mind Games Pro by Mindware Consulting

I love this sort of apps, and this one as well.

The brain exercises in the exercises are great, as they mix a series of games to develop different areas of your brain, and favour flexibility, creativity, memory retention, alertness, spatial, verbal, cognitive and numerical skills among other things. The games are not too difficult, but doing them at the correct speed is the biggest challenge many of the times. You will find more difficult those that involve an area of your brain that you need to develop or do not use enough.

I love the scoring system, with your today's results and your best results ever, which helps you to improve and beat yourself; it is great that the final scores always tell you if you are doing normal, below normal, or above normal and in which degree, and also if you are doing better (and percentage) with regards to the people in your age group.

I have a complaint. This is a paid app. This is an app for everybody out there, humans on Planet Earth who speak English, not just Americans. OK, who was the brilliant mind who decided that including questions about American Football was a great way to test MY knowledge skills?


Re the design, the welcome page of the game is very simple but very colourful and pleasant to the eye, and I love the colour scheme used in each game and the big size font used in the descriptions of what the game requires from you.

Beyond that, the visual design of the game looks amateurish. For example, most of the images and shapes you find in the visual games are Google-search-like images and shapes, not neat enough not nice enough not original ones. There are plenty of photo stock websites where to get royalty free images... The list of games page is just visually poor and crowded. And the settings of the game do not allow you to change the size or type of font. This is a paid app. A bit of more care in the design would have been great. I have mind-solving games with amazing graphics and design for 0.99 bucks. Hello Hello Mr designer!

The PRO (paid) version does NOT have adds.

The Silent Age by House on Fire

I love solving puzzles. I love mazes. I love everything time-travel. If you mix these three things I am going to be buying that "thing".

Joe is a Janitor in a corporation. He becomes the world saviour against his own will when he meets a dying scientist, Dr Lambert, who gives him a solar-powered time machine to go to the future and bend the course of history on Planet Earth.

The game is short and not difficult, except for a few points in which I found myself stuck. So I looked for a cheat online :O. But the story, the dialogues, the character and the mood of the game are really absorbing. The time travel factor is what makes the game unique, switching between present and future to collect objects and access places that otherwise you (Joe) can't.


The game has just five actions, walk, run, take and use, and dialogues, which are all done by tapping your screen. So there is no difficulty in learning how to do that, unless you don't have fingers in your hands. Ha! Moreover, the game was fully responsive to touch in my table, so the whole experience was very smooth.

One the things that I enjoyed the most in the game was... the dialogues. Truly hilarious, as well as some of the comments you get when you touch or tap any of the objects on the screen. I also fancy our hero Joe, who looks like a thinned out version of Tom Sellecks. Rescue me, my man.

The first part is free, totally free, then you have to pay for the second episode if you want it. Nobody forces you, but you will want it, guaranteed. You don't want to end the game half way the story, right? I paid 6+ bucks for some hours of entertainment. That is cheaper than a movie or my daily coffees.

The main downsides of the game are, to me, the lack of voice speech, the fact that you just see the character moving (when he uses tools, they are not seen in his hands; when he goes down a rope, you don't see him climbing down, etc.). Besides, my tablet got totally frozen a couple of times and I had to reboot it.

One of those games to do in a lazy weekend, sickie day or during your lunch break. 
 

The Moron Test by DistinctDev

It is official, I am not a moron.

The Moron Test is not only a very cheap puzzle game, it is a great brain teaser and a very cute and engaging game. When you start playing you think that it is too easy, a child game, thinking that is your knowledge what is being tested. It is not your knowledge, it is you way of thinking and reacting!

The good thing is that, no matter how much you FAIL!, you can always restart the game and try again, with the advantage of knowing already the answers to the different pages you have already passed. You will see yourself learning from your mistakes, realising that even though you know the correct answer your reflex act is faster than your discernment, you will see that your brain will read something and be tricked by the contradictory images on the page, you will see that despite you being told to pay attention your will still be distracted, you will see yourself feeling like a moron and saying damn-it, I am "moronesque". This is also enhanced by the fact that part of the replies to some of the queries require you to realise that you have to move physically your device, and think out of the square.

The second phase was the one I found more difficult to pass. I would not say that phase 6 is more difficult than phase 2, it is just that I found this one the most challenging personally. The others could be as difficult, but somewhat after no 2 one figures out what the game is asking you to do, what not to do, and what things we should be focusing on.
The game is also very humorous and cute, with all the characters being drawn in a very small children book sort of way. Some of the sounds are very funny, as well.

I found that when doing the test for second time to get to the place I was stuck, knowing already the answers to the exercises previously passed, the game would say FAIL! repeatedly. This is OK when you know the answer, and you might think it is your device's responsiveness to touch. But if you are doing the exercise for the first time, you will think that you are missing something that you are not. I think that I know why this is happening :)) I think it is not the game being badly designed, it is a wish on the part of the producers to cash in on your mistakes, as a key answer is offered for purchase many times after you fail. If you are not a moron don't buy it. Ha! If you feel stuck any time, you can go and search the Internet. Most of the exercises can be passing by you "thinking" on solving, not focusing on your frustration at not having figured out the answer yet. 

Great fun!

Monument Valley by Ustwo

Monument Valley is a gorgeous 3-D cartoon-like Escher-inspired puzzle game, with geometric architectural colourful settings, adorable characters, effective sound and animation effects, and a soothing magical music. This is a sleek game regarding design, and where colour, simplicity and fancifulness are perfectly combined.

I find the game good both for children and adults, as the level of difficulty is not high until you get to the last two levels (chapters 9 & 10) or the the last episode of the expansion. However, it is not that easy, either, as this is a 3D puzzle, so optical illusion and perspective play an important role in solving the puzzles. This makes the game very engaging. Eye candy. Mind candy. The level of difficulty steps up, literally, with each chapter and steps up with the new set extension, which is something I love. Episode 8 of the Forgotten Shores was really tricky!

The whole ensemble is mesmerising and absorbing, and unlike other puzzle games or games in general, even if you are stuck in some of the most difficult steps, you won't give up. Because it is kinda relaxing.

The game is based on touch and tap, so anybody, even a small child, can play it, to happily lead our little princess to destination. Most importantly, the game is fully responsive to touch and tap, at least in my tablet, something we cannot take for granted as many games really are not thought for or adapted for tablets and are a pain to play.

There are 10 chapters included in the game, plus 8 more if you want to expand it. You probably will do because, once you immerse yourself in the wondrous world of Monument Valley, you want to stay there for a long time. It is barely $3 AU, and, what the heck, your coffee will cost you more.

Big kudos to the whole team of Ustwo for making a virtue and an amazing game based on pure simplicity, care for the details, and charm. I am going to be buying anything these guys create!